HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED BUT HE LOST WHAT HE HAD
In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis wrote, “I am very doubtful whether history shows us one example of a man who, having stepped outside traditional morality and attained power, has used that power benevolently.” In the New York Times on Wednesday, Frank Bruni made a similar point in an editorial chastising the Democratic opposition (collectively) for the excesses of a few individuals: some Saturday Night Live person made fun of Donald Trump’s ten year old son; Madonna said a naughty word in her Women’s March speech; a few anarchists in Washington D.C. broke windows and set fire to a limousine during the Inaugural; and some guy sucker-punched a Nazi. Not some garden variety alt-right deplorable, but a real, Hitler-loving, Jew-hating Nazi.
Bruni concluded his argument with these words: “If Trump’s presidency mirrors its dangerous prelude, one of the fundamental challenges will be to respond to him, his abettors and his agenda in the most tactically prudent way and not just the most emotionally satisfying one. To rant less and organize more. To resist taunts and stick with facts. To answer invective with intelligence. And to show, in the process, that there are two very different sets of values here, manifest in two very distinct modes of discourse. If that doesn’t happen, Trump may be victorious in more than setting newly coarse terms for our political debate. He may indeed win on many fronts, over many years.”
That argument is hard to sell to frustrated people. Fighting fire with fire can feel good in the moment, and in the moment, it often appears to be effective. Is it wrong to insult your opponent’s young child? Sure. But Rush Limbaugh insulted twelve year old Chelsea Clinton’s looks by comparing her to a dog. Rush Limbaugh is still rich, famous, and influential (in certain unsavory quarters, at least).
Is it counterproductive to use vulgar language in political discourse? Sure. But George W. Bush called a New York Times reporter a “major league asshole” on the campaign trail. Trump supporters not only called Hillary Clinton a bitch and a cunt, but they even sold t-shirts that prominently featured those indelicate terms. Is it wrong to assault your political opponents? One more time – sure. But there were numerous documented instances on the campaign trail last fall of Trump supporters attacking protestors and even members of the press. Bush and Trump both wound up in the White House.
It’s silly to say that dirty tactics won’t work. They have in the past, and they surely will in the future. But that sort of success comes with unintended consequences. What goes around, comes around. As Jesus said (Mark 8:36) “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
If you decide to oppose your enemy by becoming like him, you’ve not only lost, you’ve given up without a fight. Good guys should be better than the bad guys. Let’s be the good guys.
(Links to Bruni’s editorial, as well as YouTube clips of the Limbaugh and George W. Bush incidents, will be posted in the comments, below. The title of this post is the name of an obscure 1962 song by Little Richard, also linked below.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtUlEfuM-xU (Limbaugh)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt86dc6EIoY (Bush/Cheney)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ftdZCfRYo0 (Little Richard)